Nineteen Ohio State student-athletes will be interning within the department of athletics this summer

Heather Lyke joined the Ohio State administrative staff in 1998 and currently serves as a senior associate athletics director for sport administration. She is a member of the Department of Athletics Executive Team. Heather is responsible for the management and oversight of three councils for the Department of Athletics which were created to provide consistent communication, in depth analysis and reporting to the Director of Athletics on issues affecting those areas. The three councils are: Budget Oversight, Athletics District and Facilities and Revenue Generation & Public Relations. In addition to the Councils, Heather oversees 10 sports, including men's and women's fencing, men's and women's golf, men's and women's gymnastics, men's and women's lacrosse, rowing and women's volleyball. Lyke also supervises the sport performance division of the department, which includes the strength and conditioning coaches, athletic training staff and sports medicine staff. Further, she is involved in the fundraising efforts for a new Student-Athlete Performance Center. Lyke is active within the NCAA committee structure and serves as a current member of the NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Committee. She has previously served on the NCAA Softball Rules Committee and the NCAA Amateurism Committee. She also serves on the Executive Committee of the Big Ten Sports Management Committee.

Most recently, Lyke designed and installed a comprehensive "Tool Box" of resources to assist coaches with the personal and professional development of their student-athletes. In addition, Lyke created and implemented the Bucks Go Pro initiative to help student-athlete find meaningful internship opportunities within the Department of Athletics and further their career aspirations.

When Lyke joined Ohio State, she was the assistant athletics director for compliance services and her primary emphasis was to enhance and direct the department's NCAA compliance efforts. In January of 2003, she was promoted to an associate athletics director and began the oversight of the camp and clinic operations, as well. A year later, she was given the additional responsibility of managing five Ohio State teams as a sport administrator. Then in February 2006, Lyke was promoted to the role of a full-time sport administrator with oversight of athletic programs. She was responsible for the assessment, design and production of the Strategic Plan titled: A Higher Purpose and its most recent revision.

Prior to Ohio State, Lyke served in a dual role for the University of Cincinnati for two years, serving as the assistant athletics director for compliance as well as the senior woman administrator. Lyke began her athletics administrative career at the NCAA national office as an intern in the enforcement and student-athlete reinstatement department.

In 1995, Lyke completed her Juris Doctorate from the University of Akron School of Law and was admitted to the Ohio Bar in 1995. While a student, she served as a law clerk in the prosecutors' offices in Summit and Stark counties while working on her law degree, in addition to working at IMG in Cleveland, Ohio.

A 1992 Michigan graduate, Lyke was a four-time scholarship athlete, two-time captain and an Academic All-Big Ten honoree as a member of its softball team.

For the past five years, concurrent with her employment in the Department of Athletics, Lyke has worked for the Big Ten Network as a color analyst for softball games. She and David Catalano have three children, Elle, Sophie and Eli.